The present invention relates to a simple, easily used disposable shoe covering which is designed to accurately accommodate differently sized shoes and yet has a reduced tendency to cause heat buildup, slippage, and the like. It also relates to a method of protecting the exterior of a shoe on a foot.
Disposable shoe coverings are used in many environments to prevent a shoe from being contaminated and/or to prevent an environment from being contaminated by a shoe. For example, surgeons and the like typically wear disposable shoe coverings to protect the operating room environment from microbial and other potential contamination by the shoes, and also to protect the shoes from contamination by blood and the like. Much effort has been made to design shoe coverings for this and other purposes. Attention is directed, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,722,143; 4,335,527; 4,083,124; 3,694,939; 3,684,922; 3,387,180; 358,188; 3,337,770; 3,146,377; 2,924,029; 2,755,566; and 2,654,964. As will be noted, some of such designs are wrappers rather than boots, and some attempt to enclose a portion of the leg of the wearer as well as his/her foot.
While many of the prior designs have desirable features, none have been generally adopted for various reasons, one being that they all generally fail to adequately adjust to the shoes of individual wearers. Moreover, most are not easy to use. In this connection, many use inconvenient and heat trapping ties, elastic gathers or ankle enclosures. Many prior designs leak readily through sewn seams. Thus, in most situations in which disposable shoe coverings are used, such as in surgical applications, those in the field have relied on the relatively simple coverings made of a flexible material, such as waxed paper or woven polypropylene, having a sewn elastic band completely around the insertion opening to maintain the covering on the shoe. A covering of this nature has many deficiencies. Such coverings typically result in very unsure footing. That is, because such shoe coverings are made sufficiently large to accommodate large shoes, they are rather loose on most shoes and cause slippage between the shoe sole and floor.